Abstract
Photodynamic therapy (PDT), which involves systemic administration of photosensitizers (PSs) followed by local photoillumination, is a promising method for the treatment of solid tumors and other diseases. Recently, considerable efforts have been devoted to the development of nanocarriers for the PS delivery with the aim of avoiding non-specific phototoxicity to normal tissues such as the skin. Here, we discuss the biological significance of the use of nanocarrier-encapsulated PSs in PDT. Also, we report our recent achievements on the development of dendrimer photosensitizer-loaded micelles as nanocarriers for PS delivery. We found that our nanocarriers greatly enhanced the PDT efficacy in vitro and in vivo, and also significantly reduced the skin phototoxicity. These results indicate the importance of a development strategy for nanocarriers and their great potential for clinical use. In addition, this review discusses the development of nanocarriers for emerging PDT-related technologies such as photodynamic diagnosis (PDD) and photochemical internalization (PCI).
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 327-338 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews |
| Volume | 61 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2009 Apr 28 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:We thank Dr. Takuzo Aida, Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biotechnology, Graduate School of Engineering, the University of Tokyo, for valuable input on the synthesis of dendrimer porphyrins. Also, the authors are grateful to Dr. Yasuhiro Tamaki, Associate Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology, Graduate School of Medicine, the University of Tokyo, for performing the animal experiments for the treatment of CNV. The studies reviewed in this paper were supported in part by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) of Japan.
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Pharmaceutical Science